This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Curfew
Ordinance."
This is an updating of the Borough Curfew Ordinance of 1943
prescribing, in accordance with prevailing community standards, regulations
for the conduct of minors on streets at night, effectively enforced,
taught in the homes, internalized and adhered to for generations,
all for the good of minors, for the furtherance of family responsibility
and for the public good, safety and welfare.
A. The Council finds that the curfew meets a very real local need, has
been, over the years, a significant factor in minimizing juvenile
delinquency and should be updated and amplified in the light of Middletown's
local situation and facts, including the following. Middletown, the
oldest community in (and antedating) Dauphin County, with clearly
defined boundaries at the confluence of the Susquehanna River and
Swatara Creek to its south and east and crossed at the north by the
Pennsylvania Turnpike, has a compact built up area largely within
a mile, and much of it within a half mile, of its Police Station at
the 60 West Emaus Street Borough offices. It has, near its Police
Station, a small central business district and a few manufacturing
establishments. It is a residential community in an area traditionally
classified as Pennsylvania Dutch. After 9:00 p.m. in this quiet community,
as its people say, the sidewalks are rolled up. This community sense
of the proper time for cessation of outdoor activities by minors on
the streets is reflected in the curfew hours declared by this chapter,
which take into consideration also the danger hours for nocturnal
crime and for accumulations of minors with potential risks incident
to immaturity.
B. The Council finds that compact Middletown is not overcrowded. Population
density, as reflected in the Borough Comprehensive Plan, varies by
neighborhoods from 43.7 per acre to 35 to 18.4 persons per acre. The
total area is 1,304.7 acres; streets occupy 228.8 acres, 163.8 acres
are devoted to public and semipublic uses, residential land use predominates
and single-family dwellings occupy the largest portion of the residential
area. The population density is 30 persons per acre in that portion
of the Second Ward in eastern Middletown south of East Main Street,
overlooking the Swatara Creek, now known as the Village of Pineford,
a fifty-acre tract which the United States Government had acquired,
while still undeveloped, by eminent domain proceedings in 1941; this
unique fifty-acre tract is a planned residential development, with
high-rise apartments, all owned by one firm, providing ample open
spaces. Adequate indoor living space permits minors in Middletown
to healthfully occupy their time. Commercial recreational facilities
(one movie) are almost nonexistent, and there is little or nothing
for minors to do outdoors, but roam the streets, after the curfew
hours which this chapter declares.
[Amended 8-8-1983 by Ord.
No. 863, approved 8-8-1983]
C. The Council finds that there are 2,841 minors, the 1970 census figure
for persons under 18 years of age, residing in Middletown. There are
fewer than 200 minors for each school grade. Middletown has three
elementary schools, one in each of its three wards, one junior high
school for Grades 7 and 8 in the central Second Ward, and one area
high school in Lower Swatara Township which adjoins Middletown on
the west and north. The comparatively few minors who reside in the
Village of Pineford include 32 in high school and (attending the following
schools nearby in the same Second Ward) 25 in junior high and 112
in elementary school.
D. The Council further finds that the Middletown population (1970 census)
is 9,080. There are 3,059 households (averaging two and 2.96 persons
per household) and as many heads of households. In 2,069 households
there are husband and wife. Of the 2,841 minors, 2,686 are classified
in the 1970 census as "own child" of the head of the household in
which they reside. Middletown is a stable family community. Parental
responsibility for the whereabouts of children is the norm; legal
sanctions to enforce such responsibility have had a demonstrated effectiveness
over the years; as parental control increases, the likelihood of juvenile
delinquency decreases; and there is a continuing need for the nocturnal
curfew for minors, which has achieved and will continue to achieve,
under local conditions, the purposes hereinbefore stated.
It shall be unlawful for any person 17 or fewer years of age
(under 18) to be or remain in or upon the streets within the Borough
of Middletown at night during the period ending at 6:00 a.m. and beginning:
A. At 10:00 p.m. for minors 11 or fewer years of age.
B. At 10:30 p.m. for minors 12 years or 13 years of age.
C. At 11:00 p.m. for minors 14 or more years of age.
[Amended 8-8-1983 by Ord.
No. 863, approved 8-8-1983]
It shall be unlawful for a parent having legal custody of a
minor knowingly to permit or by inefficient control to allow such
minor to be or remain upon any street within the Borough under circumstances
not constituting an exception to or otherwise beyond the scope of
the Curfew Ordinance. The term "knowingly" includes knowledge which
a parent should reasonably be expected to have concerning the whereabouts
of a minor in that parent's legal custody. It is intended to
continue to keep neglectful or careless parents up to a reasonable
community standard of parental responsibility through an objective
test. It shall, a fortiori, be no defense that a parent was completely
indifferent to the activities or conduct or whereabouts of such minor.
Prevailing community standards and the real internalization
thereof or interpersonal sanctions therefor that, in practice, count
for much, as to when minors should be off the streets, reflected in
this Curfew Ordinance, are hereby undergirded with the following legal
sanctions.
A. If, after the warning notice pursuant to §
132-7 of a first violation by a minor, a parent violates §
132-6 (in connection with a second violation by said minor), this shall be treated as a first offense by the parent. For such first parental offense, a parent shall be fined $25, and for each subsequent offense by a parent, the fine shall be increased by an additional $25 (e.g., $50 for the second, $75 for the third offense). The District Justice, upon finding a parent guilty, shall sentence the parent to pay such fine and the costs of prosecution and, upon refusal to pay such fine and costs, to be imprisoned in the jail of Dauphin County for a period not exceeding 10 days.
B. Any minor who shall violate any of the provisions of the Curfew Ordinance
more than three times shall be reported by the Mayor to a society
or organization whose purpose it is to take charge of incorrigibles
and delinquents, and proceedings shall then be taken, under the Juvenile Act, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 6301
et seq., before the juvenile court for the treatment, supervision
and rehabilitation of such minor.
[Amended 4-6-1987 by Ord.
No. 943]
C. A like procedure before the juvenile authorities shall be followed
in any case where the imposing of a fine or fines upon a parent shall
not be effective or where, for any other reason, the provisions of
the Curfew Ordinance cannot be made effective by the imposing of penalties
under this section.
Severability is intended throughout and within the provisions
of the Curfew Ordinance. If any provision, including inter alia any
exception, part, phrase or term or the application thereof to any
person or circumstance, is held invalid, the application to other
persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby, and the validity
of the Curfew Ordinance, in any and all other respects, shall not
be affected thereby. From excess of caution, the Mayor is authorized
to give advisory opinions, in writing or immediately reduced to writing,
which shall be binding and shall be adhered to by the police until
the ordinance is amended in such respect, interpreting terms, phrases,
parts or any provisions. Normally such advisory opinions shall be
in response to good faith, signed letters, addressed to him at the
Borough administration building, questioning as ambiguous, as having
a potentially chilling effect on constitutional rights specifically
invoked or as otherwise invalid, in all three categories with respect
to proposed conduct definitely described. This administrative remedy
must be exhausted prior to presenting to any court a question in any
of said three categories. The Borough Council does not intend a result
that is absurd, impossible of execution or unreasonable. It is intended
that the Curfew Ordinance be held inapplicable in such cases, if any,
where its application would be unconstitutional. A constitutional
construction is intended and shall be given. The Council does not
intend to violate the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
or the Constitution of the United States of America.
The Borough Council will continue its evaluation and updating
of the Curfew Ordinance.
A. Accordingly, there shall be compiled and informally reported to the
Borough Council through effective channels (such as the normal monthly
distribution by the Borough Manager and Borough Secretary to each
Councilman, the Mayor and the Borough Solicitor of noteworthy material)
all exceptional cases hereunder of reasonable necessity, the notices
of school and other activities, the Mayor's special permits and
the Mayor's regulations hereinbefore authorized, and the Mayor's
advisory opinions, for consideration by the appropriate committee
and by the Borough Council in further updating and continuing evaluation
of the Curfew Ordinance.
B. For the same reasons, as well as for the implementation beyond these
legal aspects of the basic purposes hereof, the Mayor and relevant
committees of the Borough Council, through their respective Chairmen,
in coordinated efforts, shall work with existing and may organize
voluntary groups and shall stimulate volunteer leadership in programs
of research and of action dealing constructively, on neighborhood
and local bases, with juvenile delinquency and the prevention, control
or containment thereof in all its ramifications and with practicable
steps toward the good life and a better life for minors 17 or fewer
years of age and with the working of the Curfew Ordinance, community-wise
and in individual cases, as one much needed legal tool toward that
end as well as for continuing present protection of minors and of
other persons and of property and other interests important to the
welfare of the people of the Borough of Middletown.